


A Bad Trade

by Kookykrumbs



Series: Dark Fate - Missing Scenes [1]
Category: Terminator (Movies), Terminator - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-23
Updated: 2019-11-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:34:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21537544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kookykrumbs/pseuds/Kookykrumbs
Summary: A conversation on what it cost Grace to become Dani's protector.
Relationships: Grace & Dani Ramos, Grace/Dani Ramos
Series: Dark Fate - Missing Scenes [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1557193
Comments: 13
Kudos: 152





	A Bad Trade

** A Bad Trade **

****

Summary: A conversation on what it cost Grace to be Dani’s protector. I imagine this scene taking place between the conversation in the car regarding Sarah’s text messages, and arriving at the train station.

**Author’s Notes:** I had no beta reader for this. Any and all mistakes are mine.

**Disclaimer:** I don’t own these characters, I make no money off them, I’m just taking them out to play.

Grace stepped out of the vehicle to stretch her long limbs and to surveil their surroundings. Sarah Connor, whom Grace still didn’t quite trust, was in the corner store picking up some items, and Grace and Dani were left to wait in the car.

Grace heard the window being rolled down, and she turned around and saw it was Dani trying to stick her head out.

“You okay?” Grace asked, concerned that the events of the last twenty-four hours were finally catching up.

“Yes, it was just getting hot in the car,” Dani answered.

Grace nodded, not knowing what else to say. It was weird being with such a young, naïve Dani. So different, yet so similar to the one she knew… the one she loved.

“How are you feeling?” Dani asked. 

Grace couldn’t help but smile. Typical Dani, always worrying about everyone but herself. “I’m fine. Really, after the meds, it’s like I never crashed.”

“You’ve got Sarah to thank for that. I was so scared to attempt to give you any of the medication. I didn’t know how much dosage to give you,” Dani said.

Grace frowned slightly, thinking of their older companion. Grace looked to her right and saw through the store window that Sarah was still browsing the junk food aisle. “Do you trust her?”

Dani was silent for a moment. “Yes, I trust her. Don’t you?”

Grace shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Dani chuckled somewhat, the sound, a balm to Grace’s battered soul. “I think you do. She just gets on your nerves.”

Grace laughed, surprising even herself. Even just being with Dani for a little more than 24 hours, already, she was seeing right through her. 

“What about me? Do you trust me?” Grace asked, not meaning to do so, but was too late to take it back.

Dani looked at her with a pensive expression. “Even before you put yourself in danger for me, even before I truly understood what was happening, I already trusted you. I don’t know why… but I do.”

“Thank you,” Grace said, sincerely. Looking back, she had no idea what she would have done if Dani hadn’t. She would have tried to convince herself it wasn’t personal, that she was a complete stranger. But she knew a part of her heart would have been broken had that been the case.

“So, you’re from 2042?” Dani asked, interrupting Grace’s thoughts.

“That’s right.”

“When this is all over, how do you get back home?”

Grace felt an unexpected ache in her heart at the thought of home. Where _her_ Dani was. The Dani she would never see again. “It was a one-way ticket.”

The look of sympathy on Dani’s face was almost Grace’s undoing. She had to look away. Neither of them said a word for what seemed like an eternity.

Finally, Dani broke the silence. “It’s a bad trade, you know.”

“What?” Grace wasn’t sure what Dani meant.

“Your life, for mine. It’s a bad trade. Your commander must have been loco to send you back here,” Dani said, shaking her head.

“No one chose to send me back here. If it was up to my commander, I wouldn’t have been allowed. I didn’t give anyone a choice!” Grace didn’t quite understand why she felt so defensive of her commander, considering she was in fact talking to her would-be commander at the moment.

Dani looked up at her with an odd look. “But why?” Dani asked, genuinely looking perplexed.

“Because, so far, I’m only the fourth person to survive the augmentation process. I didn’t trust the other three to get the job done,” Grace answered. _Because none of them love you like I do_. Oh, she had no doubt that the others would have done their best to protect Dani, especially knowing what was at stake. But Grace would have gone beyond her best, she would have given her soul for this mission. Dani was her world. It was that simple.

“Still, I don’t understand. You gave up everything to protect me. A complete stranger. You can’t even go back home. You can’t go back to all the people you love. You’ll never see them again,” Dani said.

Grace wanted to say that there weren’t _people_ … just a person. _One person_. _Her_. But instead, she opted to ask, “Why are you so worried about what I left behind?”

“I don’t know…. It just makes me sad. I hate the fact that anyone had to give up anything, let alone everything, for me. I’m afraid that even if you succeed, it won’t be worth it,” Dani said, sadly.

“Don’t you ever talk like that,” Grace said, firmly. “If I had to make this decision a thousand times again, I would make the same one each time.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s worth it to me,” Grace answered, leaving no room for argument. And it wasn’t often she won an argument with the great Daniella Ramos, she thought, wryly. Her tattooed coordinates were proof of that. 

“I don’t know if I can agree, I still feel like a nobody…. But for what it’s worth, I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather have protecting me,” Dani said.

“Really?” Grace was touched.

“Well, maybe Robocop,” Dani said with a smirk.

Grace scoffed and playfully pushed Dani’s head back in the car. “I’m just kidding,” Dani said between giggles.

“All right you two, playtime’s over, we need to get going,” Sarah said as she approached them, a bag in hand.

“Here, too-tall, always have this handy, I don’t want you crashing on us. My old bones can’t drag your heavy ass again,” Sarah said, handing Grace a big bottle of water.

Grace was about to protest her insulting nickname, when she saw an amused smirk in the corner of her eye on Dani’s face. Yes, she had to grudgingly admit that she did trust Sarah. She just didn’t like her. Grace just resignedly shook her head, and got back in the car.

Grace felt Dani’s hand on her shoulder as she sat down on the front seat. She smiled to herself. As much as Dani seemed to believe that Grace had lost everything, Grace knew she hadn’t lost Dani. She vowed it would stay that way. For the first time since leaving 2042, she didn’t feel so alone anymore.

**Author’s Note:** Thanks for reading, everyone! I’m considering doing a longer fic, maybe one that would fix the ending of Dark Fate. I didn’t really like that Dani decided to take a last stand when they were all so poorly armed, which cost Grace her life. What do you guys think? If you want to drop me a msg, feel free to e-mail me at kooky.krumbs@yahoo.com


End file.
